Tacrolimus preserves vasomotor function and maintains vascular homeostasis.

Background: Post-transplant immunosuppression is associated with endothelial dysfunction that may lead to vasculopathy. We have previously demonstrated that cyclosporine causes vascular dysfunction. In this we study examined the effect of tacrolimus (Tac) in an identical model.

Donor pretreatment with hypertonic saline attenuates primary allograft dysfunction: a pilot study in a porcine model.

Background: Hypertonic saline (HTS) has been previously demonstrated to have immune modulatory and vascular protective effects. We assessed the effect of donor pretreatment with HTS on allograft preservation in a porcine model of orthotopic heart transplantation.

Methods And Results: Orthotopic transplants were performed after 6 hours of cold static allograft storage.